WikiLeaks cables condemn Russia as 'mafia state'

Russia is a corrupt, autocratic kleptocracy centred on the leadership of Vladimir Putin, in which officials, oligarchs and organised crime are bound together to create a "virtual mafia state", according to leaked secret diplomatic cables that provide a damning American assessment of its erstwhile rival superpower. Arms trafficking, money laundering, personal enrichment, protection for gangsters, e

[Ereni]

2010.12.1

[o-kojo2]

Kremlin relies on criminals and rewards them with political patronage, while top officials collect bribes 'like a personal taxation system'

[Scatterbrain]

He alleged that intelligence officials orchestrated gun shipments to Kurdish groups to destabilise Turkey and were pulling the strings behind the 2009 case of the Arctic Sea cargo ship suspected of carrying missiles destined for Iran.